


Ghostly Musings

by EvanescentLife



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bloody Baron - Freeform, Contemplation, Death, F/F, Fat Friar - Freeform, Ghosts, Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw - Freeform, Moaning Myrtle - Freeform, Nearly Headless Nick - Freeform, Pandora Lovegood - Freeform, Professor Binns - Freeform, Sir Nicholas, fred weasley - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7705357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvanescentLife/pseuds/EvanescentLife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny and Luna get to talking about ghosts in the aftermath of the war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghostly Musings

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what I'm doing here (this is my first completed HP fic), and it didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it to (but whatever). May undergo some editing later, but for now, hope you enjoy.

Ginny was alone at the Burrow. Everyone else was out celebrating Ron and Harry becoming aurors. Ginny hadn't wanted to go. She pegged it on being sick (and she was, otherwise Mum wouldn't have let her stay behind), but really it was a whole conglomeration of things. She had been avoiding George for the last couple months or so. Fred's death was still fresh, and it pained her every time she saw George, because she had never seen one without the other before. They were a constant in her life, but now there was only one. A duo that was now broken, incomplete, dead.  
  
She also was avoiding Harry. He had wanted to get back together with her after the war. She didn't. She didn't love him anymore. She wasn't sure she ever had, if she was honest. What girl hadn't had a crush on Harry Potter at one point? Hers had just lasted longer than most. It was a crush, a childhood crush, that was all it had ever been. Sure it had blossomed a bit while they were dating, and she liked him, but she knew it would never get much past that. So she was avoiding him. He was nice about it, but she knew if he asked, she would come running back because who could say no to Harry Potter. She didn't think he would ask again, but she could never be certain. She would've clung to Hermione the whole night, but she was dating Ron now.  
  
She was more avoiding George, though. Harry would just make her angry. She could handle anger. George would make her cry.  
  
So Ginny had stayed home. Her Mum wasn't too happy about, but Ginny pretended to be more sick than she actually was.  
  
It was lonely here. Usually the house was full of people it would be strange if you didn't bump into someone every two minutes and you actually wanted the peace and quiet and privacy. But now that she had it, Ginny didn't really like it. She didn't like being left alone with her thoughts. They ate at her. Made her question things she wouldn't normally question.  
  
Which is why she opened the door when she heard a knock, instead of ignoring it like the family usually did.  
  
"Luna?"  
  
The blonde girl stood on the porch, hair pasted to her face by rain, her clothes clinging to her body. Her arms were wrapped around her skinny body, as if trying to keep the heat in.  
  
"Hi. I appear to have been caught out in the rain without my wand."  
  
Ginny blinked, then ushered Luna inside. "You must be freezing."  
  
"Oh, yes," Luna said while stepping inside. "I decided to go for a walk, and I thought it might rain, but when it did, I realized I had forgotten my wand. Since I was closer to your house than mine, I thought I would come here. I hope you don't mind."  
  
"No. Let me get you some dry clothes. I'm a little sick right now, so I don't trust my magic. Also can't use it outside of school..."  
  
"Alright." Luna stood by the door while Ginny ran up to her room. She grabbed the first pair of clothes she saw in her closet and rushed them down to Luna. The blonde girl took them with a smile.  
  
"You can shower if you want. You don't need magic for that."  
  
"Thank you." And Luna left for the bathroom.  
  
Ginny ran a hand through her hair, quickly cleaning up by taking the used dishes to the kitchen and clothes to a closet.  
  
Luna came out a couple minutes later. "You don't have anything smaller do you?"  
  
Ginny flashed a grin. "Sorry. Everyone in my family is tall. I'd spell it smaller, but I don't want to accidentally squeeze you to death."  
  
"Yes, your voice is a little wonky today. That's alright." She flapped her arms a bit, the sleeves flopping around past her hands. She had rolled up the pant legs several times, and the shirt was slipping off her shoulder. "I like the alligator." She pointed at the alligator that was running around the hem of the shirt, snapping its jaws every now and then.  
  
Ginny blushed. "Yeah, I stole that shirt from Percy. He was butt hurt about it for weeks. I don't think he every found out I took it."  
  
Luna smiled brightly.  
  
"Do you need to get home? We can't apparate, and I don't want to send you back in the rain. Should we owl your dad?"  
  
"No, he's in France right now interviewing people for the Quibbler. I don't find those to be particularly exciting, and he wouldn't let me explore on my own or bring someone else along. So he let me stay home. Where's your family?"  
  
"Out."  
  
Luna didn't press at the curt answer, something Ginny was always grateful for.  
  
"I guess you'll have to stay the night, then. My family won't be home until late, and I'm sure they won't mind you staying."  
  
"That would be lovely."  
  
Ginny knew they could sit for hours and talk, but she needed a little more distraction. "Do you want to play chess for a while?"  
  
"Oh, yes. I do enjoy chess."  
  
"I'll be right back." Ginny ran up the stairs once again, this time into Ron's room. She wrinkled her nose at the smell, quickly rooting through a pile of discarded clothes to find the chess board. She came back down to find Luna's legs dangling over the top of the couch. She walked around, crouched down, and poked Luna's nose, causing her to open her eyes. "What are you doing?"  
  
"It stimulates the brain." She grinned, cheeks rosy from the blood that had rushed to her head. "Ready to play?" Luna righted herself, sitting cross legged on the floor.  
  
Ginny laid out the board and they started playing.  
  
After a while, she said, "Luna?"  
  
"Hmm?" The blonde girl moved her knight to take one of Ginny's bishops.  
  
"What was it like for you when your mum..." She trailed off, eyes flicking over Luna who was still examining the board. Ginny dropped her eyes down before Luna could look up. She moved a pawn forward.  
  
"I don't think I understood what it meant, not really. I was eight. I had time to figure out how to deal with it as I grew and understood. I think it's harder for you, because you know exactly what this means but you don't know how to handle it yet."  
  
"Do you ever... Do you ever think about if your mum came back as a ghost?"  
  
"Yes." She paused, pushing around another piece. "I think ghosthood is more complicated than people make it out to be. Only the old have enough time to think about if they should, but at that point they've already lived so long, so do they really need to?"  
  
"Then why does anyone come back?"  
  
"I think they need a reason for it. I think Voldemort would've come back if he could. So why couldn't he? Especially those who die in a fit of passion, why don't they forgo any thinking and come straight back as a ghost to try to do whatever it was they were doing in that emotionally charged state? Something has to stop them, make them think."  
  
"What about the Hogwarts ghosts? Why did they come back?"  
  
"Sir Nick claims he was afraid of death. I think he believes that's why most ghosts come back, but I don't know if that's true."  
  
"And the Fat Friar?"  
  
Luna smiled. "He's very nice. He likes to help people. I talked to him a lot in first year when I didn't have any friends. He came back to help. It's what he did in life, and I think he wanted to continue helping."  
  
"The Grey Lady?"  
  
"She's searching for something, I think. I don't know what, though, or if she's found it. Helena's prideful, but she's nice. A little lost and untrusting, but she's nice to the ravenclaws. She doesn't really talk about herself. She mostly listens, so I don't really know why she chose ghosthood."  
  
"The Bloody Baron?"  
  
"I was scared of him the first time I saw him. But then I started talking to him. Most of the students are afraid of him. He came back to make things right. I think he felt he deserved it. Like coming back here is a punishment for something he did. I don't know what, though; he never really talked about it. He's a little dreadful, I find, but really only the slytherins talk to him, and a fair amount of them do it out of scorn. He might think he deserves that, too."  
  
"What about Moaning Myrtle?"  
  
Luna pondered it for a moment, face thoughtful. Ginny's eyes trailed over her face, admiring her soft features and kind eyes. Luna was pretty, in an odd sort of way. Ginny hadn't realized how much she knew about ghosts. But, she realized, what else was Luna supposed to do if all the students made of fun her? The Hogwarts ghosts must've been a kind of solace for her.  
  
"Myrtle is a pitiful person. She came back out of bitterness. I don't like her very much. She scares me a little. She's very dark and dreadful."  
  
"Harry didn't think she was that bad."  
  
Luna wrinkled her nose at that. "She's very emotional. That's not a bad thing, but something about her doesn't sit well with me. She came back for revenge and something dark in her heart. I don't like that about her."  
  
"I thought you liked everyone."  
  
Luna gave an odd smile at that. "No."  
  
Ginny shrugged. "What about the other ghosts?"  
  
"Professor Bins _did_ realize he died. It's hard not to. He came back because he loved teaching. Not many are that dedicated, but he really enjoys it, even if it doesn't seem like it."  
  
"He's very boring to listen to. How did you ever manage to talk to him?"  
  
"I came to him after class once because I wasn't understanding something. He's a much different person when he's not in front of a class. He's very lively and cheery. He told me he misses the one on one interaction with students. No one really talked to him after he died, so he became dreary of teaching. That's why he sounds so boring. I talked to him more often after that. He's a very interesting person. A little scattered at times, but you can tell how much he likes history and teaching."  
  
"And other ghosts?"  
  
"I don't think you'd know them. But one came back because she likes to observe. I don't think she liked her past life, but she's here to observe. I don't know why. Another came back to thwart his relatives. Like Myrtle, he came back for revenge, but this was a different kind. He was doing it to prove a point and show that he wasn't weak; she did it out of bitterness."  
  
"What about your mum?" Ginny knew she was pushing, but she needed to know. "Why didn't she come back?"  
  
Luna hummed, twisting a bit of hair between her fingers. Ginny leaned forward, hungry for the answer.  
  
"I think she felt everything would be alright. She was gone, and we were suffering, but somehow she knew it would be okay without her. I don't think she felt the need to come back. Some people do, I think, because they have something they need to see through. I think Mum thought everything was where it needed to be. I also think she didn't want to influence me with that. What would it be like growing up with a ghost for a parent? That would mess with your mind, I think. I wouldn't be able to touch her, she would never grow old, I think I would've wanted to become a ghost to be with her. I don't think it would've been good for me or Daddy for her to come back."  
  
Ginny deflated at that. She wasn't sure why, but she almost wanted a different answer. "And - What about - Why do you think Fred didn't come back?"  
  
"I think you can answer that better than I can."  
  
Ginny wasn't too sure about that. When he died, it was almost as if she didn't know anything about him. They had shared a lot, but how much did she really know about him? She questioned it almost every day. She could never talk to him again. He had caught her practicing on their brooms once. She had made him promise not to tell anyone, not even George. To her knowledge, he had kept that promise. But now she wouldn't know. She couldn't very well ask George about it, not when she couldn't even look at him without heartbreak hitting her like a train. "But what do _you_ think?" she pressed.  
  
Luna mused for a while, eyes drifting. Ginny kept her gazed focused on the girl.  
  
Finally Luna turned back to Ginny. "I think he would've been lonely."  
  
"Because of George?"  
  
She nodded. "They would be in separate worlds. Still able to see each other, but not able to touch. They would cease to be identical."  
  
"George would age, Fred wouldn't."  
  
"Yes. And Fred would be opalescent, a silvery image, unable to really be a part of this world."  
  
"But now they're separated. What's George going to do without Fred?"  
  
"Go on living."  
  
"But how?"  
  
"What would happen if Fred came back?"  
  
"They would have fun. They'd be a duo again. They could pull all sorts of pranks."  
  
"But what about after that?"  
  
Ginny hadn't really considered that. "George would keep managing the store. He'd marry Angelina or someone else. He'd have kids and be happy."  
  
"But what about Fred."  
  
Realization was slowly dawning on Ginny. "He'd watch all of this happen without being able to do any of it himself. They would grow apart, wouldn't they? George towards the real world, Fred toward the ghosts."  
  
"And what about when George died? Wouldn't he have to choose ghosthood?"  
  
"Of course!"  
  
"Would he want to?"  
  
Luna's voice ran through her head: _Only the old have enough time to think about if they should, but at that point they've already lived so long, so do they really need to?_ "I don't know. Fred would want him to." She paused, eyes glancing back down at the chessboard before looking back up at Luna. "It wouldn't be the same, would it? They'd be so different. They wouldn't be Fred and George, they'd be two different people wanting to do different things. All of that time living in two separate worlds would change them."  
  
"Yes." Luna smiled softly. "I spent a lot of time thinking about ghosts when Mum died."  
  
"Would you come back as a ghost?"  
  
"I don't think so. Only if I thought there was something I needed to do."  
  
"What about if you died right now?"  
  
Luna grinned. "Is that a threat?"  
  
"No!" Ginny couldn't help but smile back. "I was just wondering."  
  
"Maybe," she said in answer to the question.  
  
"Hurry up and play," barked one of Luna's bishops. "I'm ready to win."  
  
Ginny smiled, moving a knight to take out that bishop. She still didn't think she'd be able to look George in the eyes, but maybe she could try talking to him.  
  
Ginny won the game.


End file.
